Black knights and white knights...

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask, but I figured you guy might know:

So, it has been established that mercenary knights painted their armor and weapons black to evade rust.

Now, was there a specific reason to paint one's armor white?

There are several white knights in romantic literature, but I always thought the imagery was more a desire of the authors to create scenarios that were esthetically pleasing.

I think there is the common myth that tournament newbies in medieval France had to wear a white coat, but I have not found any evidence for that, apart from it being picked up in a few Prince Valiant comics. :)

I thought the color of the surcoats depended on their coat of arms or what order they happened to belong to. For instance the Hospitaller's commonly wore black surcoats with a white cross, or red with a white cross. Although some crusaders did wear white with a black cross to remind them of their holy mission.

...Another version I have heard so far is that the lighter the color of your armor the higher your rank; so your subjects could see you better on the field of battle...

Wouldn't that be the equivalent of painting a bullseye on you?

Not only your subjects could see you, your enemies would be really looking out for you.
In Naval battles (with the wooden ships) the officers had to dressdown to a common command uniform as a way of protection.
Chivalry was invented in the Renaissance, so I really doubt that making yourself a target was considered wise in Mideivel times.

Originally Posted by Jiujitsu77

You know you are crazy about BJJ/Martial arts when...

Originally Posted by Humanzee

...your books on Kama Sutra and BJJ are interchangeable.

Originally Posted by jk55299 on Keysi Fighting Method

It looks like this is a great fighting method if someone replaces your shampoo with superglue.

Not that I entirely doubt you. I've heard stories about "black knight" armor being some kind of rust treatment (not necessarily paint), but I never ran it down for veracity.

AFAIK, "white" knights are a literay convention that probably grew out of the Christian (and probably earlier) symbolism of white = purity. I've also never really seen a reference to painting the armor white. I could see an actual precedent with the Crusader, or even specifically Templar, surcoats of white.

Maybe we should return to first principles on this and firmly establish Black Knights = painting for rust treatment before we tackle the question of "White Knights"? It would cut down on the random speculation.